These tips serve as a summary of tactics you can use to stop (or slow down) a fast-breaking opponent. Incorporating these concepts into your game plan will help to considerably detract their ability to fast break. If your team is not built to fast-break, how do you play against teams that do like to push...

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You will often find your team going up against another team who has a deadly accurate shooter. He may not only be accurate, but he may understand how to move without the basketball, how to read the defense, and how to catch in a position to shoot quickly. A good shooter can be difficult to...

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rogue (rg) adj.: Operating outside normal or desirable controls The Rogue Defense is just as defined above. It goes against the rules of a “normal” man-to-man or zone defense. It is more strategy than a specific defensive set. The Rogue Defense can be any number of defensive tactics and strategies. When discussing the Rogue Defense,...

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Coach Arnold “Red” Auerbach was the head coach of the Boston Celtics from 1950-1966 where he won over 900 games and 9 NBA titles. Upon retiring from coaching, he worked until his death in 2006 as the Celtics general manager, president, and vice chairman … winning another 7 NBA titles! In 1953, Coach Auerbach wrote...

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Individual defensive techniques are very important in your overall defensive scheme. These ideas and tactics should be emphasized with your players as you teach one-on-one skills within your overall team defense. We know the importance of helpside defense and how a good team defense can utterly disrupt an opponent, however, each individual defender must also...

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If your basketball game strategy doesn’t involve pressing the entire game, when should you press? Should you press at all? How long or how often should you apply pressure? Should you press in the halfcourt or in the fullcourt? Should you run a zone press or man-to-man press? We’ll try to answer these questions and...

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The Combination Switch Defense can be quite advantageous against disciplined and deliberate offensive teams. These are the teams that run a patterned offense such as the flex, shuffle, etc. It also works against teams that run a motion or passing game and like to take time off the clock. Basically, in The Combination Switch Defense,...

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Utilize the 8 team defense techniques and concepts below to help your team work together as a cohesive defensive unit. Defense does win and getting 5 defenders to play together can make your team dominant on the defensive end of the basketball court. Follow these concepts, but also emphasize them to your players. Get Better...

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Coach Jack Ramsay was a proponent of playing pressure defense. He believed that applying pressure would force offensive teams into difficult situations. What follows are his set of 10 Principles of Defensive Team Play developed and adopted to best incorporate pressure defense into game strategy. Maintain a defensive stance, knees flexed, head up; foot nearer vertical...

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The Scramble defense is, in essence, a rotating man-to-man defense that will allow many opportunities for steals and will also put intense pressure on your opponents shot attempts. The Scramble is a man-to-man defense but after the first ‘scramble’, any defender may be guarding any offensive player. The purpose of the Scramble Defense is: to...

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